ALP warned it risks losing inner-city votes

The outgoing Labor member for the West Australian state seat of Perth has urged the party and its interstate counter­parts to embrace arts and environmental policies to avoid losing inner-city voters at future elections.

John Hyde
suffered a 10.5 per cent swing against him, delivering a shock victory to the Liberal Party, which last won the seat 48 years ago. The result has cast doubt on whether Labor’s
Stephen Smith
can retain the seat at the federal election.

But Mr Hyde said the WA Labor Party could win back Perth in 2017 if it recommitted to its progressive roots.

City electorates were once Labor heartland, but the state seat of Adelaide has been in Liberal hands for two years and the Liberal National Party now holds
Peter Beattie
’s old seat in Brisbane.

He said more than 50 per cent of voters in the state poll had moved to his electorate since the 2008 election. “About 14 months ago I could see this happening – you follow the demographics," Mr Hyde said. “We have lost the students, the artists and others who have traditionally lived in rundown places."

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Urban planner and inner-city advocate Sean Morrison had never voted Liberal before March 9, but threw his support behind
Eleni Evangel
’s campaign after becoming frustrated with Labor’s “anti-city rhetoric".

“Their whole rhetoric was anti-Elizabeth Quay [waterfront development], they had a shadow minister for suburbs," Mr Morrison said. “It was all about making people in the suburbs angry about the government spending money in the city. City residents have been waiting dozens and dozens of years for this investment ... they didn’t want it to be snatched away at the last minute."

Ms Evangel said Labor’s plans to scale back the waterfront project and delay the development of a new museum helped secure her victory.

Labor had argued it was more important to fund its Metronet public transport plan to deliver railways and roads to outer suburban areas. “People liked Metronet but not at the expense of key city projects," Ms Evangel said.

Mr Hyde said Labor MPs who supported gay rights and environmental protection did well in inner-city areas and Labor could retain those seats despite changing demographics if it adopted progressive policies. “We need progressive arts and environment policies. I had worked on those but the party chose not to release those policies."

“What we need to do is build up like we did in 2001," Mr Hyde said.

WA Labor appears likely to secure two more seats as counting continues. Five seats are undecided but Labor’s
Josie Farrar
is running first in the hotly contested Kimberley electorate. On the latest available data, Labor is likely to lose Belmont and Collie-Preston but retain Midland, giving it 20 seats in the 59-seat Parliament.